The Gift (Buffy episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=The Gift


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=5
Episode=22
Airdate=May 22, 2001
Production=5ABB22
Writer=Joss Whedon
Director=Joss Whedon
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=The Weight of the World
Next=Bargaining, Part One

"The Gift" is Episode 22 in Season 5 of the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", the 100th episode of the series. It was the last episode to air on The WB Network and therefore, the network called it the series finale. The TV Series moved to rival UPN .

Plot synopsis

Summary

Buffy faces Glory as the ritual commences.

Expanded overview

Buffy slays a vampire to save a teenage boy in an alley. The Scooby Gang, knowing that Glory has the advantage over them, make plans to try to avert the apocalypse that will result if her plans succeed. None of them have any ideas apart from killing Buffy's sister Dawn, which Buffy refuses to consider. Xander reluctantly suggests killing Ben as, although he is an innocent, his death will destroy Glory. Giles however points out that it's unlikely Ben will resurface before the ritual. In the end Anya suggests the use of two items that had been found earlier in the series: the Dagon Sphere, which is supposed to repel Glory, and the hammer of Olaf the Troll God. They then try to find out where Glory's plan might be occurring, but Tara, who had been made insane by Glory in a previous episode, tries to lead them there saying that she has a big day and needs to be somewhere. All of Glory's victims who had been turned insane instinctively knew where Glory's base was.

Xander and Anya search for the Dagon Sphere in the Magic Box's basement; Xander proposes to Anya but she tells him to give the ring to her again, "after the world doesn't end". Buffy heads back to her house with Spike in tow. She invites him back into her house, and they both let one another know they respect each other. Buffy asks Spike to protect Dawn, and Spike tells Buffy he knows she'll never love him, but appreciates her for treating him like a man. Meanwhile, Dawn is tied up at the top of a tower that Glory's minions have constructed for the ritual to open the gates between dimensions, allowing Glory to return home but setting all hell loose on Earth in the process.

The group prepares to leave, waiting until sundown with the aim of delaying the ritual that will dissolve the barriers between dimensions long enough for Glory's window of opportunity to pass, if not to kill her. As Tara arrives at the tower, she is accosted by Glory who demands to know what she is doing there. Glory is then ambushed by Willow, who performs some sort of spell that restores Tara's sanity, confuses and dazes Glory and throws all three of them backwards violently. Glory, still dazed, decides that she need a brain to psychically feed on and sees Buffy. She tells her minions to guard the path up the tower.

Buffy brandishes the Dagon Sphere and tosses it to Glory, who is obviously in pain holding it. Glory manages to crush it in her hands. In this time Buffy runs up and attacks her, initially gaining the upper hand. Giles, Spike, and Anya attack the minions at the base of the tower, with the hope of breaking through to rescue Dawn. Glory regains her senses during the fight with Buffy and throws a punch that is hard enough to knock Buffy's head off, revealing that she was actually fighting the Buffybot that had been constructed earlier in the season. The real Buffy sneaks up behind Glory and strikes her with the hammer. Glory is thrown backwards into a wall by the force of it. Buffy then forces her way past Glory's minions and attempts to climb the tower. However, Glory again regains her senses and quickly catches up with her. They fight on the path up the tower and Buffy desperately tries to climb higher, but is hindered by Glory, eventually resulting in both of them falling off the tower path to the ground. The hammer lands several feet away from Buffy and Glory confronts her before she can retrieve it. Glory is knocked off her feet, however, by a wrecking ball that Xander is using. Buffy picks up the hammer and sets about beating a dazed Glory repeatedly with it. Glory quickly reverts back to the form of the mortal Ben, and Buffy tells him to leave Sunnydale and never return. She then leaves to try and rescue Dawn. Giles approaches a panting Ben and suffocates him to prevent Glory ever returning, knowing that Buffy couldn't kill an innocent, even though Glory would ultimately possess Ben and kill Buffy again.

At the top of the tower, Dawn is nervously watching the battle raging below. She is surprised to see Doc at the top of the tower and, unaware that he is working for Glory, cries to him for help. He instead pulls out a knife and advances on her.

Giles, Anya, and Spike are not making any progress through the minions and fall back, until Spike notices that there is someone at the top of the tower along with Dawn. Willow communicates telepathically with him and tells him to run to the top of the tower and rescue Dawn, and then she and Tara use magic to knock all the minions down. Spike sprints to the top of the tower and when Dawn sees him she calls to him. Doc turns round and Spike advances on him. The fight is short-lived however, as Doc proves to be far stronger than suspected and throws Spike from the tower, giving himself time to initiate the ritual. He makes two shallow cuts on Dawn's stomach.

Buffy runs to the top of the tower and nonchalantly pushes Doc from the top of it. She unties Dawn but some of her blood has already dripped into the air and the portal has been created. It expands and all manner of demons emerge from it around Sunnydale. Dawn, knowing that the portal won't close until her blood stops flowing, plans to jump into the portal, believing that would close it and save the world, even if she dies in the process. Buffy stops her; she then suddenly has a flashback of several points in the season---telling Dawn they both shared "Summers blood," her earlier proclamation that "the monks made [Dawn] out of me," and most significantly, when she met the spirit guide who told her that "Death was [her] gift." Buffy realises that she and Dawn share similar blood, and that if she, Buffy, throws herself into the portal, it will close. After exchanging a few brief words with Dawn, she throws herself into the portal, closing it. Her battered body is found at the bottom of the tower, as the sun is rising.

Buffy's friends grieve — Spike weeps — and the last scene of the episode is Buffy's grave bearing the epitaph 'Devoted Sister, Beloved Friend. She saved the world. A lot.'

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers/Buffybot
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
*Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
*Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
*James Marsters as Spike
*Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Clare Kramer as Glory
*Charlie Weber as Ben
*Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
*and Joel Grey as Doc

Co-starring

*Todd Duffey as Murk
*Craig Zimmerman as Minion #1
*Josh Jacobson as Teen
*Tom Kiesche as Vampire

Production details

Music

* Christophe Beck - "The Tower"
* Christophe Beck - "Losing Battle"
* Christophe Beck - "Apocalypse"
* Christophe Beck - "Sacrifise"
* Christophe Beck - "Sacrifise (Alternate Version)"

Translations

* Italian title: "Il dono" ("The gift")
* German title: "Der Preis der Freiheit" ("The price of freedom")
* French title: "L'apocalypse" ("The Apocalypse")
* Spanish title: "El regalo" ("The gift")
* Czech title: "Dar" ("The gift")

Themes

In an essay on the ownership of evil, Erma Petrova argues that Giles murdering Ben is comparable to Willow murdering Warren - both victims are human, and their deaths are necessary to prevent further suffering. Although the moral ambiguity of killing Ben is discussed in an earlier episode, as well as Ben's innocence ("I know he's an innocent, but...not like 'Dawn' innocent"), Giles is never shown to have feelings of guilt afterwards; he did what needed to be done. Contrast this with Willow's guilt over murdering Warren, a theme that persists until the end of the series. Petrova feels the difference for Giles is that killing Ben is his only option - the police wouldn't understand the danger, Buffy is morally unable to take a human life, and leaving him alive presents too great a risk. Willow, however, had other options available and yet chose to murder Warren anyway. [Citation
last =Petrova
first =Erma
title ='You cannot run from your darkness.' / 'Who says I'm running?': Buffy and the Ownership of Evil
journal =Refractory
volume =2
date =March 2003
url =http://blogs.arts.unimelb.edu.au/refractory/2003/03/06/you-cannot-run-from-your-darkness-who-says-im-running-buffy-and-the-ownership-of-evil-erma-petrova/]

Giles recognizes that Buffy, as a hero, lives by a more demanding moral code than most people. Her unique role and abilities confer special responsibilities, including moral rules by which Giles is not bound. [cite book
last = Kawal
first = Jason
editor = James B. South (ed.)
title =
publisher = Open Court Publishing
date =2003
pages = 157
chapter = Should We Do What Buffy Would Do?
chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZFKLkVXfrhYC&oi=fnd&pg=PP13&dq=%22South%22+%22Buffy+the+Vampire+Slayer+and+Philosophy:+fear+and+...%22+&ots=6woAuLLe7K&sig=5wf8xft9I2TTTCIgmkKZyMWSteM#PPA157,M1] When Ben marvels, "She could have killed me", Giles disagrees: "No she couldn’t. Never... She’s a hero, you see. She’s not like us." However, in an essay on the ethics in this episode, C. W. Marshall claims that Giles actually exhibits heroism, as his murder of Ben serves a greater good and protects those he loves. [Citation
last =Marshall
first =C. W.
title =Aeneas the Vampire Slayer: A Roman Model for Why Giles Kills Ben
journal = Slayage
volume =9
date =August 9, 2003
url =http://slayageonline.com/essays/slayage9/Marshall.htm ]

Quotes and trivia

* This episode was criticized by the Parents Television Council for showing a character commit suicide (ignoring the context in which Buffy's self-sacrifice occurred). [Citation
last =Stevenson
first =Gregory
title =Televised Morality: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
publisher =University Press of America
year =2003
location =Oxford
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=r7spi5_StNIC&pg=PA134&ots=7Q3AWjsij1&dq=Buffy+the+Vampire+Slayer+glory+christian&sig=iYqmhwiM4ZQqyaz2xDLQBezEGlo#PPA16,M1
isbn = 0-7618-2833-8]

* As Giles and Spike leave to take on Glory, Spike comments on Buffy's curt final words to the team, "Well, not exactly the St. Crispin's Day Speech, was it?" This is a reference to Shakespeare's "Henry V", in which Henry delivers the St. Crispins Day Speech to inspire his army. Giles responds with the most famous quote from the speech, "We few, we happy few," and Spike replies by parodying the speech's next line ("We band of brothers") into "We band of buggered."

* The "Previously on..." portion of this episode was different in that rather than show the story leading up to this episode as usual it started with clips from the first episode, showing Giles giving the "Into every generation a Slayer is born" speech, then with all the main characters from the first episode introducing themselves (including Angel and Cordelia), then showing clips from almost every previous episode, getting faster and faster until every clip only lasted one or two frames.

* As mentioned by Joss in the commentary for both this episode and "Chosen," this episode was originally written to serve as the series finale, and several ideas that were used in the real finale were originally written for this episode.

* Originally Sunnydale was supposed to be destroyed by the Hellmouth in this episode but it was decided to save the idea for the series finale, "Chosen".

* Joss Whedon joked at the Noctural convention in 2001 that Anya was originally supposed to die in this episode, however, he had to keep her alive because Emma Caulfield kept moving as Xander was carrying Anya. [ [http://groups.google.com/group/uk.media.tv.angel/msg/519ef3ade688181d?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&rnum=1 JOSS WHEDON NOCTURNAL SESSION TRANSCRIPT] ]

* Giles would have later confessed to killing Ben in Season 7, "Lies My Parents Told Me", but the scene was cut right before it aired.

* Olaf's hammer is used to injure Glory; it had been previously used against Xander.

* Buffy's statement to Dawn, "The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it", is repeated by Dawn in "Once More, With Feeling".

* When the group first sees the tower, Xander says "Shpdoinkle." This is a slang term first used in the student film directed by, and starring, the creator of South Park, Trey Parker. "Cannibal! The Musical"

* When the group is leaving to go fight Glory, Tara turns to Giles and shouts, "Killer!" foreshadowing Giles's murder of Ben later in the episode.

* Willow demonstrates the ability to communicate by telepathy with Spike, which she will later use to give orders to the group while hunting vampires in the Season Six premiere. This ability will also be utilized later on in the Season Seven episode "Showtime".

Continuity

Arc significance

* Spike is invited back into Buffy's home after being barred in "Crush". His invite is not taken away even after his attack on Buffy in season six

* Crossover with "Angel": Willow goes to Los Angeles to let Angel, Cordelia and Wesley know Buffy is dead in "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb".

* Buffy dies for the second time.

* Dawn being the Key becomes a nonissue after this episode; from here on characters will mention that she "was" the key (past tense) though Dawn herself says later that she's "still the key, I just don't open anything anymore."

*Glory is defeated, ending her reign as the "Big Bad"

*This was originally intended to be the series finale, but UPN picked up the show for two more seasons.Fact|date=August 2008

Timing

* Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

External links

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References